It’s no secret that short sales are generally much more of a headache than a regular real estate transaction. On top of having the buyer and seller agree to a given sales price, a third party bank has to give its final approval for any short sale to go through. It’s not all doom and gloom, though! ARMLS today announced that they will be piloting a new program with Fannie Mae for the next 90 days. In this program, Fannie Mae will preapprove your short sale price if they find it satisfactory. When they preapprove your short sale price, you will have significantly increased foot traffic in your home and many more reasonably priced offers. This is to the benefit of the buyer, who has less guess work, and the seller, who can relax knowing that their short sale has a good chance of getting sold!
New Listing in Laveen for less than $50/ft!
I have an exciting new listing in Laveen. It is 4000+ sqft, 5bed/3br home that has been well taken care of. My sellers are currently asking $200,000, but they will seriously look at all offers! For more information, please visit my Laveen listing.
Foreclosures down in Arizona
Interesting article from Catherine Reagor over at the Arizona Republic:
Valley foreclosures significantly fell in November, suggesting that lenders are finally working with borrowers to help them pay their loans and that the area’s housing market may have hit bottom.
Last month, 3,826 Phoenix-area homes fell into foreclosure, according to the Information Market. That is down 17 percent from October.
Foreclosures are likely to fall again in December because notices of trustee sales, or pre-foreclosures, fell 23 percent in November, to 6,509.
In the past few months, several big lenders announced programs to work with more struggling borrowers. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac halted foreclosures during the holidays and plan to begin lowering interest rates and payments on some loans.
Just Driving Back to the Office
Let’s say you just finished doing a Final Walkthrough with your Client and are now heading back to the office. So you’re on the road, and you notice a firetruck off in the distance. As it approaches, you pull over to the side since that is your civic duty. All of a sudden, it shoots between the medians and is heading right at you. What do you do?
If you said whip out a camera and take a picture, then we are on the same wavelengths!
You Need the Right Personality
I read this article today, and I think there are some good points in here. Particularly, I like this quote:
Some personality types appear to thrive amid flux. “Type T” personalities are thrill seekers who tend to be self-confident, are often creative and innovative, have high energy and believe they control their own fate. He says they may view the economic uncertainty as “an opportunity.”
I believe that those of us that are brave enough to say, “I will succeed in spite of this economy,” will come out much stronger on the other side.
Maricopa County Market Update for November, 2008
Here is a snapshot for the entire Maricopa County:
| City | Active | Average List Price | New | Pending | Sold | Average Sold Price | Average Sold DOM | Expired |
| Ahwatukee | 42 | $ 333,535 | 5 | 2 | 0 | $ 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Apache Junction | 769 | $ 236,761 | 124 | 45 | 41 | $ 118,967 | 74 | 47 |
| Avondale | 1254 | $ 152,500 | 272 | 137 | 133 | $ 148,750 | 62 | 53 |
| Chandler | 2612 | $ 344,579 | 473 | 222 | 226 | $ 248,196 | 81 | 118 |
| El Mirage | 663 | $ 104,759 | 144 | 75 | 66 | $ 95,016 | 70 | 27 |
| Fountain Hills | 962 | $ 732,890 | 144 | 36 | 28 | $ 401,329 | 95 | 34 |
| Gilbert | 2776 | $ 327,046 | 549 | 237 | 243 | $ 245,203 | 78 | 106 |
| Glendale | 3089 | $ 203,010 | 628 | 245 | 241 | $ 160,298 | 80 | 175 |
| Goodyear | 1254 | $ 263,585 | 259 | 106 | 97 | $ 216,000 | 57 | 58 |
| Laveen | 710 | $ 207,620 | 149 | 83 | 64 | $ 176,998 | 58 | 36 |
| Litchfield Park | 572 | $ 330,609 | 105 | 55 | 46 | $ 223,209 | 109 | 25 |
| Maricopa | 1423 | $ 149,822 | 343 | 153 | 143 | $ 131,261 | 76 | 59 |
| Mesa | 5422 | $ 250,779 | 1025 | 404 | 383 | $ 183,849 | 79 | 265 |
| Paradise Valley | 612 | $ 2,979,887 | 72 | 12 | 13 | $ 2,251,346 | 176 | 13 |
| Peoria | 2317 | $ 293,811 | 436 | 157 | 171 | $ 211,803 | 95 | 113 |
| Phoenix | 17645 | $ 243,971 | 3398 | 1266 | 1100 | $ 159,007 | 80 | 921 |
| Queen Creek | 2485 | $ 217,366 | 538 | 289 | 288 | $ 146,904 | 66 | 90 |
| Scottsdale | 6905 | $ 915,382 | 1062 | 268 | 265 | $ 518,469 | 108 | 246 |
| Surprise | 2365 | $ 202,180 | 487 | 215 | 227 | $ 177,737 | 76 | 110 |
| Tempe | 1199 | $ 327,872 | 220 | 59 | 61 | $ 256,542 | 94 | 65 |
| Tolleson | 651 | $ 142,574 | 134 | 79 | 81 | $ 125,853 | 55 | 22 |
Foreclosure/Distressed Property Update for November, 2008
| Area | Type | Active | Pending | Sold |
| Maricopa County | Overall | 48478 | 5213 | 3850 |
| Bank Owned/REOs | 9680 | 2534 | 1721 | |
| Short Sales | 9761 | 924 | 704 | |
| Tempe | Overall | 997 | 75 | 61 |
| Bank Owned/REOs | 77 | 17 | 13 | |
| Short Sales | 140 | 9 | 9 | |
| Chandler | Overall | 2031 | 263 | 226 |
| Bank Owned/REOs | 260 | 90 | 76 | |
| Short Sales | 507 | 47 | 39 | |
| Ahwatukee | Overall | 747 | 76 | 52 |
| Bank Owned/REOs | 72 | 20 | 16 | |
| Short Sales | 138 | 14 | 5 | |
| Scottsdale | Overall | 5959 | 337 | 265 |
| Bank Owned/REOs | 314 | 83 | 71 | |
| Short Sales | 605 | 60 | 46 | |
| Gilbert | Overall | 2160 | 323 | 243 |
| Bank Owned/REOs | 326 | 120 | 78 | |
| Short Sales | 714 | 80 | 55 | |
| Mesa | Overall | 4417 | 509 | 383 |
| Bank Owned/REOs | 810 | 221 | 150 | |
| Short Sales | 956 | 84 | 80 |
